(cr. 3)
Taught via videoconference from IUPUI. Sports journalism chronicles the seemingly immortal
prowess of the games’ brightest stars. It trumpets the titanic showdowns between the best of
its gladiators. And, journalists do it all in an attempt to feed America’s insatiable appetite for
sports. This course will explore the state and practice of sports journalism, through case
studies of some of this decade’s most controversial sports stories. Were sports journalists
fair? Did they report these stories with context? Did they explore the larger societal issues?
Did they explore the economics behind these stories? Did they portray the characters in these
sagas as real people? We will explore these issues through evaluating coverage, reading
related texts and talking directly to prominent sports journalists, executives and athletes.